Blockbuster — Dunkirk

We are all just ordinary people with the potential to do extraordinary things.

Dunkirk History –

In May of 1940, Germany launches “Plan Yellow” or “Manstein Plan” which invades Southern France.

It was only 45 miles – 39 nautical miles – from England, which would have been roughly two hours to travel by boat in 1940. While on land, Germany exploited the British and French army by using their famous blitzkrieg strategy, a swift and relentless attack on the opposition. Germany pushed both armies back to Dunkirk.

By May 27th, 400,000 British and French forces are pushed back all the way to Dunkirk.

Many British soldiers ask, “Where is the Royal Air Force?” They were getting bombed day and night by the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force.

On May 14, 1940, the BBC delivered a nationwide announcement from the British government: “The Admiralty have made an order requesting all owners of self-propelled pleasure craft between 30ft and 100ft in length to send all particulars to the Admiralty within 14 days from today if they have not already been offered or requisitioned.”

The Germans destroyed 177 Allied aircraft and sunk more than 200 ships, including six British and three French destroyers. However, RAF and French Air Fighters shot down 240 German aircraft.

An estimated 338,000 Allied soldiers were rescued during the evacuation, which was officially known as Operation Dynamo. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and government officials had at first predicted that it would only be possible to rescue around 45,000 men before German forces blocked further evacuations. British citizens helped to shatter that estimate by offering their own boats and lives to help assist in the Dunkirk rescue.